WUHAN, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- China's first cargo-focused airport, which was officially put into operation in July 2022, is rapidly emerging as an international air freight hub with burgeoning cross-border trade, benefiting people at all ends of its routes.

This week, When Xinhua reporters visited a cargo terminal at Ezhou Huahu International Airport in the city of Ezhou, central China's Hubei Province, over 9 tonnes of crabs from Kolkata, India, were just loaded onto trucks, ready to be shipped to eastern Chinese cities. The whole turnaround process took just two hours.

"Imported fresh goods such as durians, crabs, lobsters and salmon can be unloaded and arrive on consumers' tables in as short a time as half a day," said Liu Chenlu, a manager of the cargo terminal.

With a well-developed air route network and streamlined customs procedures, the airport is now an important gateway for high-quality international products like fresh foods and electronics components to enter the Chinese market.

Ezhou Huahu International Airport has executed over 60,000 cargo flights and completed a cargo and mail throughput of over two million tonnes so far.

In 2025, it launched 15 international cargo routes, including those to Paris, Oslo and Copenhagen, bringing its total to 45 and facilitating the country's imports and exports.

The airport's rapid development is spurring the growth of the local cross-border e-commerce industry.

Not far from the airport, at China (Ezhou) Cross-border E-commerce Industrial Park, livestreamers promote products in both English and Chinese from morning till night, bringing goods like toys, festival decorations and baby strollers to consumers worldwide.

As one of the livestreamers in the park, Abdullah, a Pakistani national, sells small drones to the United States. The goods can be delivered to most consumers within a week thanks to the frequent international cargo flights of the airport.

Qian Ling, head of the international trade company Abdullah works with, said that Ezhou's unique advantages in air freight are attractive for enterprises. "With the nearby airport, the transport efficiency for cargo imports and exports has greatly improved. And at the industrial park, we can find almost all the resources we need."

Since the park opened in April this year, a total of 258 cross-border e-commerce enterprises have registered there, generating a trade volume of 310 million U.S. dollars to date.

"Our workplace is almost full now and we'll start to build new office buildings soon," said Bi Wei, manager of the industrial park.

Notably, the site offers free, hands-on training in account operations and video production. By now, over 600 people from Zhejiang, Shanghai, Jiangxi and many other provincial-level regions have undertaken this training.

"Cross-border e-commerce is where the opportunities are. I hope to bring Ezhou's experience back to my hometown, and to enable more people to enjoy our specialties," said Yang Yabin, an entrepreneur from Xinjiang.

Hong Yong, associate researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce, noted that leveraging the global logistics network of the airport, Ezhou has established an integrated way to combine cross-border e-commerce, industrial clusters, and airport economy.

"It provides an example of economic growth for other Chinese inland areas," said Hong.